Best Speed App ?

[WherryNice]

I use an app called SailDroid, I have the premium version but I believe there is a free one too. Speed shown in tenths of a unit(Mph,Kph, knots,m/s) along with bearing etc. Decent sized display with day&night colours as prefered. 

 

[Broads01]

1 hour ago, CambridgeCabby said:

, if you’re hiring an older boat then usually there is a plate by the dash giving the approximate speeds at indicated revs which when we hired we found these to be a good indication of the true speed .

That's the opposite of my experience. Speed is so tide-dependant as to make any suggested rev number misleading.

[CambridgeCabby]

Admittedly my findings were on the northern rivers where tidal flow is less but we found that the rev. readings were relatively accurate  

[grendel]

but its the speed through the water and wash created that are critical, make too much wash, and even if you are below the speed limit, the rangers will let you know.

Water Rail is at about 5mph at 2000 rpm (thats the  only marking on the rev counter).

Martham boats dont even have rev counters.

[grendel]

This is what I use (couldn't bother waiting for the gps fix)

 

[webntweb]

On 17/07/2017 at 07:21, LondonRascal said:

For my Apple stuff I use aSmartHUD: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/asmart-hud/id304070702?mt=8

 

For Android Ulysse Speedometer: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.binarytoys.speedometer&hl=en_GB

 

Hi Robin, this doesn't work with Android 12. Do you know if there is a later version please?

[Smoggy]

2 hours ago, Broads01 said:

That's the opposite of my experience. Speed is so tide-dependant as to make any suggested rev number misleading.

You are correct but if you stick by the rpm figures the chances are the rangers won't give you a second glance evin if you are speeding due to tide as the wash will still be appropiate to the river, I've gone through reedham at just over idle well over the limit and had a cheery wave from the quay warden and seen them shout at folk below the limit pushing hard against the tide, they know the difference and it's wash they look for, the use of speed camera guns does grate with me as they are just not relavant on running water.

[mjt]

Well, that's reinvigorated this thread and no mistake. I've opted for the AscendApps one suggested by Gallipoli but it wasn't free. Still, at least a paid app is free of ads. I'll see how I get on with it and report back. I probably won't be out on the boat again for around a month but will try it out in the car or even just on foot.

The reason for wanting it is that being new to the Southern rivers I was very surprised to find how fast the currents can run. I was on the Yare going towards Norwich on a rising tide and my Nasa log was showing 5.5mph but the trip took considerably less time than I'd estimated, so I wanted something to give me speed over the ground. It'll be interesting to compare the two which will give an idication of the speed of the current.

A fellow boater showed me Aweigh and it looked extremely useful but my wife found a number of negative reviews of it, including significant inaccuracies in tide calculations and it sometimes failing to show speed so I decided against it.

[MauriceMynah]

A few years ago I renewed my car. The old one had a garmin in it. This is now on the boat and although it shows me driving next to the river, it does show my speed (over land) pretty accurately.

[Admiraldingley]

We use Aweigh, the downside I've found with it is that the speedometer sometimes freezes, so you could be doing 6mph and it's only showing 4mph, when I notice that its stopped fluctuating I'm having to close the app and re-open it for to force another speed check.

[mjt]

I've been using an old TomTom but it only shows integer mph so I could be going at 4.9mph and it only shows 4 (assuming it doesn't change at the 0.5 point). In certain locations it seems to lose satellites and stops updating, hence the need for something better and more accurate. Surprisingly it does seem to know I'm driving down the river but inevitably jumps to the nearest road where there is one.

As I said earlier the speed problem with Aweigh is the reason I decided against it.

[MauriceMynah]

My garmin gives 1 decimal place so x.y

I would imagine that as so many cars have satnav as standard, there may be quite a few second hand garmins on fleabay. 

[MauriceMynah]

Just to add, the 1 decimal place maybe only when under 10mph. I dunno!

[Bikertov]

40 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

My garmin gives 1 decimal place so x.y

I would imagine that as so many cars have satnav as standard, there may be quite a few second hand garmins on fleabay. 

Actually, I think the opposite seems to be the case, at least on lower end models.

SatNav is expensive to develop and fit into cars, as there are so many model variants of head unit to support in relatively low volumes. Now, with SatNav hardware being installed on so many phones, with loads of apps available, cars tend to have Android Auto or Apple Car Play, so you just hook your phone up to the car instead. No built-in SatNav needed so money saved by the car manufacturers.

[Smoggy]

MMtracker is very good on android and will use .qct maps as used with older versions of memory-map, I have the 1:25k OS broads map and it tracks spot on and gives accurate speed.

Downside is you can't get it through play store, I can pass on the .apk file if anyone wants a copy along with the broads map, PM me.

[mjt]

I finally got the chance to try out the Ascend Apps Speedometer Plus and must say I'm really pleased with it. It does exactly what I wanted and has useful features that I don't specifically need but which are quite handy such as elapsed time and distance travelled. I installed it on my 7-year-old Samsung S5 and it works fine and leaves my current phone free.

As I have a NASA Clipper log it was interesting to get a feel for the speed of the current. The difference between speed over ground and speed through water got close to 2mph occasionally and was frequently around 1.5mph.

Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions.

[Smoggy]

The paddle wheel speed logs are notoriously unreliable and often inaccurate,  I took mine out when I did my dash upgrade and just use chart plotter or tablet for gps speed (sog).

[MauriceMynah]

Ooo, "speed over ground" get you !

Or  Soggy !

[Bikertov]

1 hour ago, MauriceMynah said:

Ooo, "speed over ground" get you !

Or  Soggy !

Only if you drop the sat nav unit overboard ...

[mjt]

6 hours ago, Smoggy said:

The paddle wheel speed logs are notoriously unreliable and often inaccurate

I can believe that. After a month on the berth the log wasn't working until I reached a section of river where I could go above 4mph so I wouldn't be at all surprised if the paddlewheel was clagged up and not rotating freely.